Drunk Flight Attendant Causes Flight Cancellation

A female flight attendant for Pinnacle Airlines (Delta Connection) was so drunk on a flight over the weekend that she was taken off the plane.

Mary Jean Bongers, a 51-year-old from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, was removed from a flight from Grand Forks to Minneapolis, according to the Associated Press.

The flight, Delta Connection 3743, was scheduled to depart at 1 p.m. on Sunday, but Bongers was reportedly so drunk that she repeatedly failed to correctly recite the alphabet and spell her own name, police told the Star Tribune.

Bongers had a blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit for driving in North Dakota and maintained that she was not drunk.

A nurse practitioner first alerted pilots that Bongers seemed intoxicated. Police officers came to the plane and met with Bongers -- one reported smelling a "moderate odor" on her breath. Bongers, meanwhile, left two letters out of her last name when asked to identify herself and sang parts of the alphabet while swaying. TwinCities.com reports that a sweep of the plane revealed three empty plane-size bottle of Skyy Vodka.

The flight attendant was "relieved of duty [without pay] pending further investigation", the Star Tribune reports. As a result, the understaffed flight was cancelled and its 30 passengers were put on later flights.

Both the airline and the FAA are investigating, MyFoxTwinCities.com reports.

Last year, a United Express pilot convicted of flying while drunk was sentenced to serve six months in prison. In March 2011, Mexican authorities suspended the licenses of two pilots, two co-pilots and a flight attendant from Aeromexico for being under the influence of alcohol while flying.

Drunk Flight Attendant Canceled Flight to Minneapolis: MyFoxTWINCITIES.com

Comments

[Benjamin Thomas]

12:12 AM on 02/26/2012

According to the wiki news article on Mary Bongers, she is the mother of three us service members. She started drinking because she was sad about her boys getting sent away and became a flight attendant so she could give them free flights home.

[musicmasterno1]

08:12 AM on 02/25/2012

For those who state "she's just there to serve drinks and peanuts, what's the big deal", may I remind you of the US Air flight that crash-landed in the Hudson river? The fast, deliberate, and SOBER actions of the entire flight crew is what helped keep that accident from being a disaster.

[dbrett480]

04:07 PM on 02/24/2012

While she definitely should be fired, outside of drunk in public, is this an actual crime?

[mary ann ruvolo]

12:18 PM on 02/24/2012

I am a Flight Attendant, and there is absolutely no excuse for this. I also blame the Captain. If she was that drunk, then he should have realized that as soon as he did the crew briefing which is done at every flight before boarding. In addition, the gate agent should have noticed it as well, when she checked in to do the flight. Based on the number of passengers, she was the only Flight Attendant. ie: 1 for every 50. God forbid something would have happened, there is no way she would have been of any use to anyone on that aircraft. I hope she loses her job. I would not want her working a flight that myself or any member of my family were on.

[musicmasterno1]

08:06 AM on 02/25/2012

The cockpit crew may have missed it because she supposedly downed several minis on the aircraft after the crew had their pre-flight briefing. It's plausible for her to appear sober enough until she had those last few.

[mary ann ruvolo]

08:39 AM on 02/25/2012

Possible I suppose, but not likely. The plane had not even taken off when someone noticed it. Who know's? It's anyone's guess. Just thank God that woman it before take off. Not just for God forbid a crash...but what if someone suffered a heart attack etc...how on earth would she have been able to help?

[chrometta757]

06:08 AM on 02/24/2012

Man oh man that is a hard job dealing with the public for hours and hours. that poor flight attendant they must deal with a lot of crazy stuff. and they are allways smileing all the time. the flight attendants are dam good people. they make being on an airplane fun. if I were a flight attendant I would be falling down drunk. I hope this flight attendant keeps her job. and god bless all of you people who work in the airlines for makeing flying so much fun. I think a lot of the flight attendants who are 50 years and older are hot.

[philsun73]

05:22 AM on 02/24/2012

So Bongers was Bonkers. So what? One little ole drink ain't never hurt anybody. They should have just let her finish her flight and then she could have gone home and slept it off. Boy. You talk about a bunch of party poopers. Besides flying high. is the only way to fly.

[Wanda Diaz]

05:14 AM on 02/24/2012

Flight attendants put white rum in water bottles to disguise the alcohol not allowed while on working hours. It happened to me when I requested bottle water and it was an unpleasant experience, I can appreciate alcohol in other occasions but not when you're thirsty like hell.

[BuildingAirplanes]

04:37 AM on 02/24/2012

Given her last name, was it only alcohol that she was on?

[drummerjacob]

04:27 AM on 02/24/2012

this story would make a better plot than snakes on a plane.

[mesogorgeous]

04:24 AM on 02/24/2012

EVERY EMPLOYEE GETTING ON A PLANE SHOULD BLOW INTO A BREATHILIZER, THAT WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEM

[VoiceOfReality2012]

09:36 AM on 02/24/2012

"EVERY EMPLOYEE GETTING ON A PLANE SHOULD BLOW INTO A BREATHILIZER, THAT WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEM"

How?
Please explain?
Will it predict that theyre going to drink 3 shots of vodka a few minutes later?
And, Oh yeah, Your caps lock button is stuck

[drummerjacob]

04:24 AM on 02/24/2012

i show up to work drunk all the time. im a drummer. perhaps she should pick up an instrument

[PunditOne]

04:10 AM on 02/24/2012

I was on a flight during a ferocious thunderstorm that felt like I was riding a wild bull. I couldn't believe the wings stayed on. The sole flight attendant sitting behind me looked like a zombie on some type of drug, with glassy eyes. Seeing her like that told me this was not an ordinary flight. She said later that she had broken her collar bone & (back? or arm?) flying in a similiar storm, when she wasn't strapped in, she hit the ceiling. I know I would've, if I wasn't strapped in.
The story's drunk attendant, might've been scared from a previous incident. Still, she should've white-knuckled it.

[bhamnikwa]

03:21 AM on 02/24/2012

No charge of public intoxication? No charge of interfering with a flight?
Wow, she may have been able to get away with smoking also.

[Brian Childers]

02:41 AM on 02/24/2012

Three "airplane" sized bottles? Those little one ounce bottles? She could not have been that drunk off just three little bottles.

[anitafeeney]

03:12 AM on 02/24/2012

yes but some cant hold their liquer three of those little bottles would put me on the floor or make me sick take your pick which since both would likely happen lol

[VoiceOfReality2012]

05:16 AM on 02/24/2012

"She could not have been that drunk off just three little bottles."

Thats not true, Brian. Those little bottles come in 1.25 and 1.75 ounce sizes. If I remember correctly, the vodka comes in the larger size. 3 of those would equal 3.5 Shots. And the plane hadnt taken off yet so she had drank them in a very short period of time. Factor in many womens smaller size and the short timespan and 3.5 shots of Vodka would probably be all she needed.

[Benjamin Thomas]

06:03 PM on 02/24/2012

You misread the article. The plane had just landed. They canceled the next flight that plane and its crew was scheduled for.

[anitafeeney]

02:30 AM on 02/24/2012

well all i can say is if i showed up drunk on the job i would get sent home and fired and rightly so you dont show up to work drunk